The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus - Coptic ...

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY: BOOK III 195
At the same time Rhodes was also a¥icted by terrible earthquakes,
[146] its third misfortune, at dead of night. 172
44 And at Byzantium, when the emperor wished to make an addition
to the Trisaghion of the phrase, ‘Who was cruci¢ed for us’, a very
great disturbance occurred on the grounds that the Christian worship
was being utterly nulli¢ed. 173 In a letter to Soterichus, Severus says
that the initiator and champion of this was Macedonius, together with
the clergy under him (Severus had not yet obtained his priestly see,
but was residing in the imperial city, when he had been driven from
his own monastery along with others, as I have said). 174 I think it was
also for these slanders, in addition to what has been, that Macedonius
was expelled. 175
far as Cappadocia; Malalas recorded Anastasius’ benefactions to the victims and the extra
defensive measures that he took.
172 Like the rest of the material in this chapter, the same sequence of Malalas (406:19^
21) was Evagrius’ source. Malalas again notes the emperor’s generosity towards the
survivors.
173 Like the previous chapter, the information on this rioting in November 512 was
derived from Malalas (406:22^408:11). For the Christological signi¢cance of the Monophysite
addition to the Trisaghion, see n. 15 above, and for the arguments between Macedonius
and Severus about its introduction, n. 114.
174 Soterichus, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, had professed adherence to Chalcedon
at his appointment by Macedonius, but then switched sides on reaching his see (see
Honigmann, E¤ve“ques 109^13). Fragments of Severus’ letter survive in a Coptic translation
(discussion and Latin translation in Garitte, ‘Fragments’; also Letters of Severus 118 [PO
14, pp. 290^1]); the letter, whose title contains the information about Severus’ status,
begins with a description of a riot in S. Sophia, when a group of worshippers chanting the
Monophysite Trisaghion was attacked by a mob allegedly organized by Macedonius; after a
lacuna of uncertain length, the letter concludes with a discussion involving Severus and Secundinus,
the emperor’s brother-in-law, and other distinguished men, in which Macedonius
is being pressed to accept the Monophysite position. For Evagrius’ earlier treatment of
Severus, see iii.33, especially with n. 120 above.
175 These comments about Macedonius are Evagrius’ own addition to the description
of the rioting derived from Malalas, and are an intelligent attempt, based on an
additional source, to set the violence in a wider context. By the time of the rioting in
512, Macedonius was safely in exile at Eucha|«ta (for his deposition, see iii.32, with n.
113 above), but the opposition to the Monophysites was inspired by monks, especially
the Sleepless Monks, who could easily be labelled as supporters of the deposed
patriarch (cf. ps.-Zach. vii.7 for the connection). Severus’ letter to Soterichus is to be
dated to 510, some time before the riot to which Evagrius relates it (Lebon, Monophysisme
46 n. 1).